Dallas Mavericks' Defense Fails To Show Up Against Phoenix Suns

By Greg Higgins

Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

The Dallas Mavericks travelled to Arizona to take on the Phoenix Suns one night after allowing the Toronto Raptorsto come back from a 19-point deficit. The Mavs lost the game 109-108 in overtime to the Raptors. Apparently, Dallas forgot a very important piece to their team when they left for Phoenix though as the Suns defeated Dallas 123-108.

It seems that Dallas left its defense behind rather than taking it on the plane. The Mavs have never been known as a really good defensive team, but they should be a little better than what they showed against the Suns. Dallas gave up a season-high in points for an opponent as Phoenix scored 123. The Suns shot 51.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range.

Dallas also gave up 15 offensive rebounds to Phoenix in the loss. Meanwhile, Dallas shot the ball well from field-goal range, but their 3-point shooting was terrible. The Mavs shot 48.4 percent but only 17.6 percent from 3-point land.

This isn’t about the offense, though. The Mavericks scored 108 points, which should be enough to win the game. However, for the second straight game, the Mavs scored 108 points and suffered a loss. One loss was in overtime but the other was by 15 points. Phoenix shot 30 3-pointers and made 15 of them. The Suns converted 15 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points as well.

Dallas has two games coming up this week against the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs, and the Mavs cannot afford to play bad defense against those teams. The Mavs better hope someone will ship their defense to Houston before Monday night. Otherwise, it could be a long night for the Mavs.